The present invention relates to a reel for fishing and more particularly to a reel for fishing which can be integrated with a fishing rod.
In order to improve the grip holdability of a reel for fishing to be mounted on a fishing rod body and to make the reel for fishing lightweight and compact, heretofore known reels for fishing are integrally mounted on the butt grip portion of a fishing rod as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model No. 9789/1974 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,120,069.
Such a reel for fishing as is integral with a fishing rod is shaped so that it is elongated in the direction in which the fishing rod is extended. The reel for fishing has a spool on which a fishline is wound, a reel body with a handle for driving the spool to rotate, and a grip portion to be gripped and held integrally with the reel body. The fishline wound on the spool is passed through the fishing rod whose butt grip portion is integral with the reel and then drawn out from the tip of the fishing rod.
When fishing is actually conducted with the reel for fishing mounted on the fishing rod, the operation of thumbing the spool is performed when the fishline is played out and the like.
However, an opening, which is formed in the top surface of the reel body for permitting the thumbing operation, is substantially rectangular in the direction in which the fishing rod is extended and besides large in size over the longitudinal direction of the spool. Therefore, the top surface of the reel body can hardly be held with the thumb that grips and holds it. In a case where a backlash occurs when the fishline is played out, it is hardly easy to remedy the backlash or to pass the fishline through the fishing rod.
Since the reel body and the grip portion are formed on the same straight line extending in the longitudinal direction of the fishing rod, the inside part near the tip of the thumb of the gripping and holding hand at the time of actual fishing is located at one side (toward the handle) with respect to the central part of the spool. However, no consideration is given to this fact, and thus the disclosed reel for fishing makes it hard to perform the operation of delicately thumbing the spool.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,536,288 also discloses in its specification a reel for fishing which is integral with a fishing rod incorporating a reel body into the hand grip of the fishing rod so as to make it lightweight and compact. This reel for fishing is provided with a finger hooking portion, which is in the form of a pointed horn placed beneath the grip shaft positioned in the rear of the reel body.
In the case of a fishing rod which is provided with a reel body fitting portion for mounting a reel, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 82765/1989 discloses a finger hooking portion which is positioned beneath and in the rear of the reel body fitting portion. This finger hooking portion is positioned in the rear of the reel body and held between the third and little fingers at the time of hooking and when a fishline is wound up. Consequently, the finger hooking portion is in the form of a downwardly pointed horn projection from the grip shaft portion of the fishing rod.
Since each of the aforementioned conventional finger hooking portion is a projections in the form of a relatively thin pointed horn, the surface area touched by the finger is small and that portion does not so much contribute to gripping stability. In other words, gripping tends to become unnatural and unsteady, thus causing the rod to totter or easily turn on its axis, and the rod has to be gripped firmly. Consequently, the angler tends to feel tired and suffer from fingerache because he is forced to concentrate energies on his hooking fingers touching that small surface. Unsteady gripping resulting from failing to firmly grip the finger hooking portion in the prior art and further lacking of feeling of fitness due to the acute touch of the finger hooking portion felt through the fingers have given an uncomfortable gripping condition. Moreover, casting and retrieving are unaccomplishable without shifting the grip portion from one hand to the other and thus the operability remains low when rod motion is attempted.